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List Price: $7.98 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 989213
Released: May 1, 2001 |
| Our Price: $2.44 |
| Used Price: $6.00 |
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| Media: Audio Cassette |
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Survivor Track Listing:
1. Independent Women, Pt. 1
2. Survivor
3. Bootylicious
4. Nasty Girl
5. Fancy
6. Apple Pie à la Mode
7. Sexy Daddy
8. Independent Women, Pt. 2
9. Happy Face
10. Emotion
11. Dangerously in Love
12. Brown Eyes
13. Story of Beauty
14. Gospel Medley: You've Been So Good/Now Behold the Lamb/Jesus Loves Me
15. Outro (DC-3) Thank You
Editorial Review:
One listen to the eagerly anticipated third CD from the world's biggest girl group and it's clear there is one child with the most destiny. To paraphrase the hip-hop legends, "Who's house?" Beyoncé's house, and with the lead vocalist producing or cowriting all of the 14 tracks, it's hard to imagine what those other two chicks even do (other than act grateful to still have a gig). Seizing creative control is a bold move for Miss Knowles, and anytime an R&B act eschews the beat of the week, they have to be commended. But the problem is that Beyoncé, even with her ambition, has yet to suss out that the key to a pop-R&B smash is hook and melody. With the exception of the now-played-out title track (Can we all take a moratorium on this mighty goddess theme for a second, please?) and the equally you-go-girlish "Independent Woman Part 1," most of the tracks here lack a strong core. Beyoncé crams a litany of thoughts and motifs into her mini-anthems, with samples ranging from Stevie Nicks to Tarzan Boy, but though the cuts sizzle and sparkle and throw off much attitude, Survivor is way too frenetic. Even with some strong singing and songs (most notably the laid back "Fancy"), Survivor lacks real emotion. --Amy Linden
Survivor Reviews:
Survivor 
2009-11-24 - I got this for a friend of mine who really liked this thanks it came on time and we were both happy
Destiny's Child:Together Or Apart? 
2009-11-16 - It's hard to deny with actually listening to this album that this was the breaking point of Destiny's Child as a group. Kelly and LeToya are being brushed aside into the role of,at best strong backup singers rather than sharing leads and harmonies with Beyonce' who,at this point is definately lobbying for her own solo success.Was it The Supremes all over again?Actually it was a little more aggresive. I do have to agree with many reviewers that compared with their first two albums there are an awful lot of musical weaknessess here. One of the most obvious problems that does bare repeating over and over is the fact that "Independant Women" and the title song of this album received a very unhealthy amount of saturation airplay the entire year after this came out. Before when the group seemed almost innovative in a contemporary way the way these two songs were presented to the public almost made even HARDCORE FANS turn their backs on the group. This aspect of the bands history at this point even became an SNL sketch at the time;I'm sure many remember the Gemini's Twin skits during this period. Not only that but there is also a lot of rather smug "dissing" of some of the former band members,which can also be found in many interviews they did at the time. Also the band appeared at the inaugural for GW Bush and,while I don't want to turn this into any argument about politics.....in hindsite that probably was a very bad idea. Personally Destiny's Child weren't winning a whole lot of Brownie points with me personally when this album came out because they seemed to have more to do with media hype of one sort or another than music at this time. Most of the music here is a series of songs that basically try to replicate the sound of the two overplayed hits and sometimes it almost sounds like a remix album as a result: the Peabody & Sherman-styled "Independant Woman Part II" did kind of make me laugh though. At the same time it's kind of sad beause Beyonce,Kelly and LeToya all had excellent abilities as vocalists and harmonizers and despite some of the cornier music their speedy flow of ideas was actually very hopefull in terms of innovation at times-even if some of the lyrics themselves are beyond shallow. A handfull of tunes easily rise above the heavy filler though. "Bootylicious" takes a Stevie Nicks sample and extends it into full blown funkiness:it's by far the best (and sadly least played) hit on the album. On "Nasty Girl" and "Brown Eyes" there are also strong stabs at funk but it really comes together best again on "Apple Pie A La Mode". The album actually only really catches fire at the end with "Gospel Medley",where the group really got to do their stuff vocally in an acapella medly of the music they'd started singing as children. Alright even I'll admit it:this album is inconsistant and a bit too showoffsky but,at the same time it's an important time capsule for this period in at least Beyonce's musical development.
Worth checking out... 
2009-11-13 - I enjoyed this DC album more than their sophmore album. Highlights are:
Bootylicious (Yes, the Steve Nicks Riff does rock)
Independant Woman 1 & 2 (both versions have their own flavor.)
Happy Face (it's nice to hear Beyonce sing a upbeat pop song)
Story of Beauty (A very heart wrenching song).
The girls can sing, but...
2008-02-03 - I still only like 3 songs on this whole album...Independent Woman, part 1, Survivor, and the gospel medley. Oh, Emotions wasn't so bad either. I honestly just wasn't into the rest of the songs on this album. But I didn't waste too much money since I bought it used for 40 cents and now I have my favorite songs on my MP3 player.
So, if you asked me would I buy it new, I'd tell you no. And that's my two cents.
Lukewarm release...
2007-10-17 - There are good songs here (Emotion, Happy Face) and a little fun to be had (Bootylicious, Nasty Girl, Independent Woman Pt. I and II) but the rest lacks any significant depth. Brown Eyes is one of the WORST songs that they've put out EVER (it's mushier than any of Mariah Carey's old-school ballads; trust me - I'm VERY familiar with those!) and Apple Pie La Mode as well as the outro were pretty pointless.
This release doesn't come close to the material released on The Writing's On The Wall ('99).
Glad I own it for the stand out tracks, but won't be listening to it again anytime soon!
Songs to check out/Download
Survivor
Happy Face
Nasty Girl
Emotion
3.5 stars.
